Swaziland Newsletter No. 876 – 9 May 2025
News
from and about Swaziland, compiled by Global Aktion, Denmark (www.globalaktion.dk)
in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com),
and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland - free of charge. The newsletter
and past editions are also available online on the Swazi Media Commentary
blogsite.
eSwatini’s 20 years of
constitutionalism characterised by a crackdown on freedom of expression
By Melusi
Simelane, Mail & Guardian (South Africa), 8 May 2025
Although
the African Union has declared 2025 the year of reparations, justice for
Africans and people of African descent through reparations, many remain
shackled by colonial legal frameworks in the hands of post-colonial and
post-independence Africa.
The
2024 decision by the eSwatini supreme court to
revitalise the Sedition and Subversion Act
(SSA) contributes to crackdowns on freedom of expression.
The
last absolute monarchy in Africa will mark the 20th anniversary of its
Constitution in July 2025. Since the Constitution was promulgated in
July 2005, it is concerning that the highest court would revitalise a colonial
law that stifles free expression and erodes trust in democratic
institutions.
Freedom
of expression is the cornerstone of all human rights because advocacy and
governmental accountability depend on its protection. Since the emergence of
human rights after World War II, freedom of expression has retained its status
as one of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) and the Africa Charter. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights (ACHPR) adopted the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of
Expression and Access to Information in conformity with Article 9 of the
African Charter, highlighting the significance of this right.
Sedition
laws, rooted in colonialism,
were initially intended to weaken this foundational aspect using emotionally
charged terms that intentionally lack clear definitions. This ambiguity allows
for prosecutorial misuse whenever the government faces criticism. The global
decline in democratic principles and human rights values, coupled with the
resurgence of offences like sedition, points to a troubling trend towards
global authoritarianism that needs to be addressed.
Unfortunately,
the eSwatini supreme court’s ruling in Prime Minister of Eswatini and
Another v Thulani Maseko and Six Others only worsens this alarming
pattern.
In
reinstituting the crime of sedition, the court contributed to an environment
where protestors, human rights defenders, political opposition, and activists’
freedom of expression may be stifled through arbitrary arrests. These groups
will be compelled to engage in self-censorship regarding any perceived
criticism of the government. Even in a monarchy like eSwatini, sedition laws
are untenable as they contradict the right to self-determination, violating
Article 1(2) of the United Nations Charter.
In
reinstituting the crime of sedition, the court contributed to an environment
where protestors, human rights defenders, political opposition, and activists’
freedom of expression may be stifled through arbitrary arrests. These groups
will be compelled to engage in self-censorship regarding any perceived
criticism of the government. Even in a monarchy like eSwatini, sedition laws
are untenable as they contradict the right to self-determination, violating
Article 1(2) of the United Nations Charter.
Paramedics tend to a person injured by police during protests in Mbabane in 2021 as security forces cracked down on pro-democracy protests in Africa's last absolute monarchy. Photo: AFP
To
read more of this report, click here
eSwatini Government opens
applications, students who support calls for democracy or closely related to
political activists to be denied scholarship loans
By Musa Mdluli, Swaziland
News, 8 May 2025
MBABANE:
Makhosini Mndawe,the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Labour and
Social Security has released a public announcement, inviting students to apply
for scholarship loans.
“Students
applying are those who hold acceptance letters from the various Universities”,
reads the public announcement in part, released on Wednesday.
But
the scholarship loans are politically discriminatory in eSwatini, students who
support calls for democracy or closely related to political activists “are
denied their right to education”.
This
was communicated and confirmed by Labour and Social Security Minister Phila
Buthelezi on numerous occasions during interviews with the State owned radio.
“Students
who are protesting and fighting the current Government won’t be awarded
scholarships,” said the Labour Minister during one of the interviews.
The
Minister further supported Parliament submissions made by Mbabane East Member
of Parliament (MP) Welcome Dlamini who urged Government not only to withdraw
scholarships for students who support calls for democracy but, cancel their
passports.
50% eSwatini women
experience sexual violence in their lifetime
By Nokwanda Mamba, Swaziland
Democratic News, 7 May 2025
MBABANE:
About 48 %of adult women in Eswatini are likely to experience sexual violence
in their lifetime, this is at least according to a January 2025 Afrobarometer
report.
The
report also indicates that one in three women and girls in Eswatini experience
sexual violence by the age of 18, adding that most citizens reject the use of
physical force to discipline women and considering domestic violence a criminal
rather than a private matter.The report also relied on a study carried in 2022,
which suggested that 91% of the respondents believed it was unjustifiable for
men to physically discipline their wives, 6 % believed it was sometimes
justifiable, while 3 % believed it was justifiable.
The
Eswatini Government seems to be reluctant to succumb to the calls by women
rights organisations who want Gender Based Violence (GBV) to be declared a
national disaster, amid the rise of domestic violence cases in the country.
Police
brutality, the scourge of 2021, rearing its ‘ugly head’ in eSwatini
By IB Dhlamini, UED
Convenor, Swati Newsweek, 7 May 2025
The
United Eswatini Daispora (UED) is appalled with what the Royal Eswatini Police
(REP) have done within a space of four days (30 April2025 and 3 May 2025) in
Eswatini. When Mswati III and his cronies invaded the Hosea community under the
guise of development, the UED learned with uneasiness on the reports of
subjecting an elderly person, Gogo Mathunjwa, in an unlawful detention. Gogo
Mathunjwa was detained for be known as a passionate supporter of the
incarcerated Hosea Member of Parliament, Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza.
Furthermore,
the police were again seen on the 3 May 2025 unlawfully stopping a legitimate
thanksgiving event organized by Honourable Lomalungelo LaZwide Simelane, the
wife of exiled former Siphofaneni Member of Parliament Mduduzi Gawzela
Simelane. The police, Siphofaneni Station Commander Motsa, claims that he was
reacting after Prince Mshengu, the son of the late Prince Maguga who is known
for having caused the mass removal of people from KaMkhweli and Macetjeni. The
Station Commander cited the Public Order Act of 2017 as the basis for the
prohibition of the Constituency Thanksgiving Ceremony in Siphofaneni.
In
that regard, the UED views the actions of the Hluti and Siphofaneni police as
the resuscitation of the culture of police brutality that saw the killing of
Thabani Nkomonye on 8 May 2025 and over 100 Emaswati in June 2021 as well as
maiming of hundreds of Emaswati countrywide. The reasons given for the
detention of Gogo Mathunjwa and that of the thanksgiving prohibition organized
by the Member of Parliament Hon. LaZwide.
The
United Eswatini Diaspora (UED) warns the police to desist from this tendency of
abusing the law to deny the people of Eswatini freedom of assembly, association
and conscious. While the UED is conversant that the police are not going to
change as they are enforcing an autocratic tinkhundla system. However, the UED
notifies the police that it will not be long before the people decide to defend
themselves. It is wise therefore, to call up on all people of conscious in
Eswatini to stand up and condemn this abuse of human rights.
SWADNU
welcomes partial drugs delivery but…
eSwatini Observer, Press Reader edition, 6
May 2025
THE
Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) has expressed cautious appreciation
for the 26 per cent drugs and medical supplies recently delivered to the
Mbabane Government Hospital.
But
it insists that a full and sustained supply is urgently needed to restore
normal operations and quality patient care.
Speaking
on behalf of the union, SWADNU Secretary General Mayibongwe Masangane
acknowledged the small progress but emphasised that health workers were still
waiting for a complete response to their demands, following a petition
delivered to the ministry of health last Tuesday. “There has been nothing
formal communicated to us since the delivery of the petition . We are patiently
waiting for a response. We really appreciate the 26 per cent, although it’s
very low.
“We
are not fighting anyone, but we would really love to get everything delivered,”
Masangane said.
The
petition, submitted by healthcare workers at the hospital, listed seven
critical demands, including the urgent delivery of a full stock of essential
drugs within three days and enough to last at least three weeks.
The
partial delivery, which included fluids and vaccines, has provided temporary
relief but is far from sufficient for the hospital’s needs.
Masangane
urged government not to treat the issue as a public relations exercise, but to
act meaningfully and responsibly in meeting the healthcare system’s long-term
needs.
“We
want a drug supply that will last and support us in returning to normal
operations. Government must not just do things to clear their name, but must do
the right thing,” he said.
SWADNU
maintains that frontline workers are committed to delivering quality
healthcare, but their ability to do so depends on the availability of adequate
resources, particularly essential medicines.
See
also
Protests
demanding drugs in public hospitals spread to Nhlangano as health crisis
worsens, King Mswati’s mother Queen Ntombi Tfwala in Singapore for medical
treatment
https://swazilandnews.co.za/fundza.php?nguyiphi=8998
Opinion by Zweli Martin Dlamini, Swaziland News, 3 May 2025
The
media in eSwatini is dominated by State Intelligence spies from the army and
the police and these agents have been holding the Eswatini National Association
of Journalists (ENAJ) hostage making sure that, journalists are oppressed such
that, the standard of living for media practitioners has been deteriorating
over the years and now, far below that of colleagues within the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) region.
In
eSwatini, journalists don’t know the value of their profession and, they have
been reduced to useless beggars while holding a pen that they could use
collectively, to influence policies and laws that seek to improve their lives.
As you read this, the new Executive of the
Association of journalists is busy registering the organization and this means,
the media organization that should be acting as the custodian of ethics,
promoting ethical standards was an unregistered entity, of course, with no bank
account.
Former journalist now Mbabane East Member
of Parliament (MP) Welcome Dlamini and Times Sunday journalist Mfankhona
Nkambule are former Presidents of the Journalists Association.
This means Nkambule and the MP were
heading an unregistered association and, it was not a problem they were
receiving money from the Tinkhundla regime for suppressing other journalists.
It’s surprising to learn that, all the
former Presidents of the Eswatini Journalists Association were heading an
entity that does not exist in terms of the law but, if you can engage them, you
will find yourself swimming in the mud with pigs.
As we celebrate press freedom, let me
remind journalists that, they have the power to liberate themselves.
It’s actually a huge embarrassment to call
yourself a journalist while you are visibly hungry, a hungry human being is not
free but vulnerable to be used by anyone with money.
Therefore, if international partners like
the European Union (EU) are serious about promoting media freedom, they must
influence policies that seek to ensure that, journalists receive decent
salaries in this country.
The EU must organize workshops and
capacitate journalists so that, they can understand how important they are in
this country.
Ntombi Mhlongo, the Secretary General of
the Eswatini National Association of Journalists articulated this very well,
journalists are financially struggling and vulnerable to be used.
The media has become an Army Barrack where
even soldiers are deployed so that they can spy unsuspecting members of the
pro-democracy movement, pretending to be conducting interviews.
See also
EU committed to protecting media
freedom, pluralism
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/eswatini/eu-committed-protecting-media-freedom-pluralism_en
By
Wanele Dlamini, Times of Eswatini, Press Reader edition, 6 May 2025
MBABANE: The Supreme Court of Eswatini has
ruled that the two men accused of burning a police van and the national flag
during a student protest pose a significant threat to public peace and security
if released on bail.
In a judgment delivered yesterday, the
apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Bonginkhosi Bongo Nkambule, a member
of the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS), and Menzi Bhembe, who was a student
at the Eswatini College of Technology (ECOT).
The court’s decision reinforces the
earlier ruling by the High Court, which had denied bail to the pair.
The Supreme Court’s judgment, penned by
Justice Nkululeko Hlophe, sitting with Justices Jacobus Annandale and Mbutfo
Mamba, highlighted the likelihood that releasing Nkambule and Bhembe would
disturb public order or undermine public peace or security.
Nkambule and Bhembe were arrested in
January 2024 in connection with incidents that occurred in September 2022.
These involved the alleged burning of a
police vehicle transporting a body to the Mbabane Government Hospital mortuary
and the destruction of the Eswatini national flag at the University of
Eswatini’s Mbabane Campus.
They face charges under the Suppression of
Terrorism Act, carrying a potential sentence of up to 25 years imprisonment
without an option of a fine.
In its analysis, the Supreme Court
scrutinised the High Court’s decision to refuse bail. Justice Hlophe noted that
the lower court had correctly considered several factors, including the
seriousness of the charges, the strength of the evidence against the accused
and the potential for them to evade trial, influence witnesses or disturb
public order.
The judgment pointed to evidence allegedly
placing Nkambule at the centre of the incidents, including video and
photographic evidence showing him tampering with the police van before it was
set alight.
The court also noted his possession of a
gas mask and the changing of trousers, suggesting an attempt to conceal his
identity.
Furthermore, his membership in a
proscribed political organisation and alleged ties to individuals who had fled
to South Africa raised concerns about his potential to abscond.
Regarding Bhembe, the court acknowledged
his student status but highlighted that the alleged offences occurred at an
institution where he was not enrolled, suggesting a potential for political
agitation.
To read more of this report, click
here
https://www.pressreader.com/eswatini/times-of-eswatini/20250506/281578066542826
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